A Macro-state consisting of N= 3.5 x 10^4 photons in a quantum superposition and entangled with a far apart single-photon state (Micro-state) is generated. Precisely, an entangled photon pair is created by a nonlinear optical process, then one photon of the pair is injected into an optical parametric amplifier (OPA) operating for any input polarization state, i.e. into a phase-covariant cloning machine. Such transformation establishes a connection between the single photon and the multi particle fields. We then demonstrate the non-separability of the bipartite system by adopting a local filtering technique within a positive operator valued measurement.
Working from the Schroedinger's Cat paradigm, a series of experiments are constructed. The Bedford-Wang experiment is examined, and the ambiguity in its meaning is addressed. We eliminate this ambiguity by abandoning the idea of the triggering event, replacing the two-state system with a mirror that undergoes wave packet spreading. This creates an experimentally testable version of a modified Schroedinger's Cat experiment for which a null result is not the obvious outcome.
We give some arguments to evaluate the "size" of Schrodinger cat for the flux qubit, which has really different results from ref.[1] Korsbakken et al. [1] J.Korsbakken,F.K.Wilhelm and K.B.Whaley,Physics Scripta T137,014022 (2009)
Superpositions of macroscopically distinct quantum states, introduced in Schroedinger's famous Gedankenexperiment, are an epitome of quantum "strangeness" and a natural tool for determining the validity limits of quantum physics. The optical incarnation of Schroedinger's cat - the superposition of two opposite-amplitude coherent states - is also the backbone of quantum information processing in the continuous-variable domain. However, existing preparation methods limit the amplitudes of the component coherent states by about 2, which curtails the state's usefulness for fundamental and practica…
We propose a measure for the "size" of a Schroedinger cat state, i.e. a quantum superposition of two many-body states with (supposedly) macroscopically distinct properties, by counting how many single-particle operations are needed to map one state onto the other. This definition gives sensible results for simple, analytically tractable cases and is consistent with a previous definition restricted to Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger-like states. We apply our measure to the experimentally relevant, nontrivial example of a superconducting three-junction flux qubit put into a superposition of left- an…
In this paper we re-investigate the core of Schroedinger's 'cat paradox'. We argue that one has to distinguish clearly between superpositions of macroscopic cat states and superpositions of entangled states which comprise both the state of the cat. It is shown, that in the first instance recurrence to decoherence or other mechanisms is not necessary in this special case in order to explain the absence of macroscopic superpositions. Additionally, we present modified versions of two quantum optical experiments as experimenta crucis. Applied rigorously, quantum mechanical formalism reduces the pr…
Intriguing dichotomies in quantum measurement theory involving the role of the obersever, objective reality, collapse of wavefunctions and actualization of a measurement outcome are cast into a patholigical gedanken experiment involving a single electron in a double quantum dot system coupled via a weak link.
Contractive states for a free quantum particle were introduced by Yuen [Yuen H P 1983 Phys. Rev. Lett. 51, 719] in an attempt to evade the standard quantum limit for repeated position measurements. We show how appropriate families of two- and three component ``Schroedinger cat states'' are able to support non-trivial correlations between the position and momentum observables leading to contractive behavior. The existence of contractive Schroedinger cat states is suggestive of potential novel roles of non-classical states for precision measurement schemes.
An interferometric experiment is described that characterizes an optical cat state in a cavity mode. Our method describes how to measure the amplitude and phase of the different coherent states that make up the cat states. We show that using a recently proposed quantum nondemolition measurement technique, we can circumvent the problem of decoherence inherent in measurement involving superposition of coherent states.
This MSc dissertation surveys nine interpretations of non-relativistic quantum mechanics. Extensive references are given. The interpretations covered are: the orthodox interpretation, Bohr's interpretation, the idea that the mind causes collapse, hidden variables, the many-worlds interpretation, the many-minds interpretation, Bohm's interpretation and two interpretations based on decoherent histories.
The problem of photon adding and subtracting is studied, using conditional output measurement on a beam splitter. It is shown that for various classes of states the corresponding photon-added and -subtracted states can be prepared. Analytical results are presented, with special emphasis on photon-added and -subtracted squeezed vacuum states, which are found to represent two different types of Schroedinger-cat-like states. Effects of realistic photocounting and Fock-state preparation are discussed.
We propose a dynamical scheme for deterministically amplifying photonic Schroedinger cat states based on a set of optimal state-transfers. The scheme can be implemented in strongly coupled qubit-cavity systems and is well suited to the capabilities of state of the art superconducting circuits. The ideal analytical scheme is compared with a full simulation of the open Jaynes-Cummings model with realistic device parameters. This amplification tool can be utilized for practical quantum information processing in non-classical continuous-variable states.
We present a tomographic method for the reconstruction of the full entangled quantum state for the cyclotron and spin degrees of freedom of an electron in a Penning trap. Numerical simulations of the reconstruction of several significant quantum states show that the method turns out to be quite accurate.
After a careful analysis of the feedback model recently proposed by Slosser and Milburn [Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 418 (1995)], we are led to the conclusion that---under realistic conditions---their scheme is not significantly more effective in the production of linear superpositions of macroscopically distinguishable quantum states than the usual quantum-optical Kerr effect.
The quantum state of Schroedinger's cat is usually incorrectly described as a superposition of "dead" and "alive," despite an argument by Rinner and Werner that, locally, the cat should be considered to be in a mixture of non-superposed states. Here, it is rigorously proven that the cat is not in a superposition. This is central to the measurement problem. Nonlocal two-photon interferometry experiments throw further light on the measurement state by probing the effect of a variable phase factor inserted between its superposed terms. These experiments demonstrate that both subsystems really are…
We review the use of quantum feedback for combatting the decoherence of Schroedinger-cat-like states in electromagnetic cavities, with special emphasys on our recent proposal of an automatic mechanism based on the injection of appropriately prepared ``probe'' and ``feedback'' Rydberg atoms. In the latter scheme, the information transmission from the probe to the feedback atom is directly mediated by a second auxiliary cavity. The detection efficiency for the probe atom is no longer a critical parameter, and the decoherence time of the linear superposition state can be significantly increased u…
The new process of quantum-injection into an optical parametric amplifier operating in entangled configuration is adopted to amplify into a large dimensionality spin 1/2 Hilbert space the quantum entanglement and superposition properties of the photon-couples generated by parametric down-conversion. The structure of the Wigner function and of the field's correlation functions shows a decoherence-free, multiphoton Schroedinger-cat behaviour of the emitted field which is largely detectable against the squeezed-vacuum noise. Furthermore, owing to its entanglement character, the system is found to…
We report preparation and characterization of coherent superposition states t |0> + alpha |1> of electromagnetic field by conditional measurements on a beamsplitter. The state is generated in one of the beam splitter output channels if a coherent state and a single-photon Fock state |1> are present in the two input ports and a single photon is registered in the other beam splitter output. The single photon thus plays a role of a "catalyst": it is explicitly present in both the input and the output channels of the interaction yet facilitates generation of a nonclassical state of light.
Recently, Frauchiger and Renner proposed a Gedankenexperiment, which was claimed to be able to prove that quantum theory cannot consistently describe the use of itself. Here we show that the conclusions of Frauchiger and Renner actually came from their incorrect description of some quantum states. With the correct description there will be no inconsistent results, no matter which quantum interpretation theory is used. Especially, the Copenhagen interpretation can satisfy all the three assumptions (C), (Q), and (S) of Frauchiger and Renner simultaneously, thus it has no problem consistently des…
A scheme for generating Schrödinger cat-like states of a single-mode optical field by means of conditional measurement is proposed. Feeding into a beam splitter a squeezed vacuum and counting the photons in one of the output channels, the conditional states in the other output channel exhibit a number of properties that are very similar to those of superpositions of two coherent states with opposite phases. We present analytical and numerical results for the photon-number and quadrature-component distributions of the conditional states and their Wigner and Husimi functions. Further, we discuss…
We consider a quantum superposition of Bose-Einstein condensates in two immiscible internal states. A decoherence rate for the resulting Schroedinger cat is calculated and shown to be a significant threat to this macroscopic quantum superposition of BEC's. An experimental scenario is outlined where the decoherence rate due to the thermal cloud is dramatically reduced thanks to trap engineering and "symmetrization" of the environment which allow for the Schroedinger cat to be an approximate pointer states.
We present a scheme of generating large-amplitude Schrödinger cat states and entanglement in a coupled system of nanomechanical resonator and single Cooper pair box (SCPB), without being limited by the magnitude of the coupling. It is shown that the entanglement between the resonator and the SCPB can be detected by a spectroscopic method.
We investigate the dynamics of a two-level atom in a cavity filled with a nonlinear medium. We show that the atom-field detuning $δ$ and the nonlinear parameter $χ^{(3)}$ may be combined to yield a periodic dynamics and allowing the generation of almost exact superpositions of coherent states ({\sl Schrödinger} cats). By analysing the atomic inversion and the field purity, we verify that any initial atom-field state is recovered at each revival time, and that a coherent field interacting with an excited atom evolves to a superposition of coherent states at each collapse time. We show that a mi…
We study the dynamics of classical and quantum systems linearly interacting with a classical environment represented by an infinite set of harmonic oscillators. The environment induces a dynamical localization of the quantum state into a generalized coherent state for which the $\hbar \to 0$ limit always exists and reproduces the classical motion. We describe the consequences of this localization on the behavior of a macroscopic system by considering the example of a Schroedinger cat.
We characterize the degree of entanglement of a subsystem of $k$ particles in a $N$-two level system ($k\leq N/2$) initially prepared in a mesoscopic superposition $|ψ>=\int dθf(θ) (|ϕ_{1}(θ)>^{\otimes N}+|ϕ_{2}(θ)>^{\otimes N})$, where $f(θ)$ is a gaussian or a delta function, subject to the time evolution described by a dephasing channel. Negativity is used as a measure of entanglement for such system. For an arbitrary number of particles $N$, numerical results are given for the full time evolution up to ten particles. Analytical results are obtained for short times and asymptotic time regim…
We study two-spin entanglement and order parameter fluctuations as a function of the system size in the XY model in a transverse field and in the isotropic XXX model. Both models are characterized by the occurrence of ground state degeneracy also when systems of finite size are considered. This is always true for the XXX model, but only at the factorizing field for the XY model. We study the size dependence of symmetric states, which, in the presence of degeneracy, can be expanded as a linear combination of broken symmetry states. We show that, while the XY model looses its quantum superpositi…
Heisenberg's principle$^1$ states that the product of uncertainties of position and momentum should be no less than Planck's constant $\hbar$. This is usually taken to imply that phase space structures associated with sub-Planck ($\ll \hbar$) scales do not exist, or, at the very least, that they do not matter. I show that this deeply ingrained prejudice is false: Non-local "Schrödinger cat" states of quantum systems confined to phase space volume characterized by `the classical action' $A \gg \hbar$ develop spotty structure on scales corresponding to sub-Planck $a = \hbar^2 / A \ll \hbar$. Suc…
Nuclei are rather classical systems in a sense. In the old days, their phenomena were roughly explained in classical rules such as the liquid drop model. This fact may be understood that when we see an finite quantum many body system like nucleus, though which is a group of quantum mechanical particles, its any collective degree of freedom has any classicality. Getting a classicality does not depend on spatial scales of objects. It is made by a phenomenon called Quantum Decoherence. We have studied about Quantum Decoherence in a finite system as nucleus. In this paper, at the harmonic three bo…
Interferometry with NOON quantum states can provide unbiased phase estimation with a sensitivity scaling as $Δθ\sim 1/N_T$ given a prior knowledge that the true phase shift $θ$ lies in the interval $-π\leq θ\leq π$. The protocol requires a total of $N_T = 2^{p}-1$ particles (unequally) distributed among $p$ independent measurements and overcomes basic difficulties present in previously proposed approaches. We demonstrate the possibility to obtain a phase sensitivity beating the classical shot-noise limit using published probabilities retrieved experimentally for the creation of Schrödinger cat…
The transition from quantum to classical, in the case of a quantum harmonic oscillator, is typically identified with the transition from a quantum superposition of macroscopically distinguishable states, such as the Schrödinger cat state, into the corresponding statistical mixture. This transition is commonly characterized by the asymptotic loss of the interference term in the Wigner representation of the cat state. In this paper we show that the quantum to classical transition has different dynamical features depending on the measure for nonclassicality used. Measures based on an operatorial …
Highly quantum non-linear interactions between different bosonic modes lead to the generation of quantum non-Gaussian states, i.e. states that cannot be written as mixtures of Gaussian states. A paradigmatic example is given by Schroedinger's cat states, that is coherent superpositions of coherent states with opposite amplitude. We here consider a novel quantum non-Gaussianity criterion recently proposed in the literature and prove its effectiveness on Schroedinger cat states evolving in a lossy bosonic channel. We prove that quantum non-Gaussianity can be effectively detected for high values …
The Schroedinger equation with the nonlinear term is derived by the natural generalization of the hydrodynamical model of quantum mechanics. The nonlinear term appears to be logically necessary because it enables explanation of the classical limit of the wave function, the collaps of the wave function and solves the Schroedinger cat paradox.
Working entirely within the Schroedinger paradigm, meaning wavefunction only, I present a modification of his theory that prevents formation of macroscopic dispersion (MD; "cats"). The proposal is to modify the Hamiltonian based on a method introduced by Steven Weinberg in 1989, as part of a program to test quantum mechanics at the atomic or nuclear level. By contrast, the intent here is to eliminate MD without affecting the predictions of quantum mechanics at the microscopic scale. This restores classical physics at the macro level. Possible experimental tests are indicated and the difference…
We suggest a variant of the recently proposed experiment for the generation of a new kind of Schroedinger-cat states, using two coupled parametric down-converter nonlinear crystals [F. De Martini, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 2842 (1998)]. We study the parametric oscillator case and find that an entangled Schroedinger-cat type state of two cavities, whose mirrors are placed along the output beams of the nonlinear crystals, can be realized under suitable conditions.
In the Entropic Dynamics (ED) derivation of the Schroedinger equation the physical input is introduced through constraints that are implemented using Lagrange multipliers. There is one constraint involving a "drift" potential that correlates the motions of different particles and is ultimately responsible for entanglement. The purpose of this work is to deepen our understanding of the corresponding multiplier. Its main effect is to control the strength of the drift relative to the fluctuations. We show that ED exhibits a symmetry: models with different values of the multiplier can lead to the …
I review basic principles of the quantum mechanical measurement process in view of their implications for a quantum theory of general relativity. It turns out that a clock as an external classical device associated with the observer plays an essential role. This leads me to postulate a ``principle of the integrity of the observer''. It essentially requires the observer to be part of a classical domain connected throughout the measurement process. Mathematically this naturally leads to a formulation of quantum mechanics as a kind of topological quantum field theory. Significantly, quantities wi…
The assumptions added by Bohr and concerning the Hilbert space (formed by all solutions of Schroedinger equation) changed fundamentally the original physical interpretation of these solutions proposed earlier by Schroedinger. This new alternative was refused by Einstein on the basis of the EPR Gedankenexperiment, but accepted fully for microscopic reality by scientific community. Both the quantum alternatives were discussed, however, again later. Bell tried to find a possibility how to decide between them; he generalized Einstein's Gedankenexperiment assuming that also spins of two detected pa…
We propose a technical reformulation of the measurement problem of quantum mechanics, which is based on the postulate that the final state of a measurement is classical. Unlike the usual formulation (in which the post-measurement state is a unit vector in Hilbert space), our version actually opens the possibility of admitting a purely technical solution within the confines of conventional quantum theory (as opposed to solutions that either modify this theory, or introduce unusual and controversial interpretative rules and/or ontologies). To that effect, we recall a remarkable phenomenon in the…
The main assumptions the Copenhagen quantum mechanics has been based on will be summarized and the known (not yet decided) contradiction between Einstein and Bohr will be newly analyzed. The given assumptions have been represented basically by time-dependent Schroedinger equation, to which some further assumptions have been added. Some critical comments have been raised against the given mathematical model structure by Pauli (1933) and by Susskind and Glogover (1964). They may be removed if only the Schroedinger equation is conserved and the additional assumptions are abandoned, as shown recen…
We provide an affirmative answer to the question posed in the title. Our argument is based on a treatment of the Schroedinger dynamics of the composite of a quantum microsystem, S, and a macroscopic measuring apparatus, I, consisting of N interacting particles. The pointer positions of this apparatus are represented by orthogonal subspaces of its representative Hilbert space that are simultaneous eigenspaces of coarse-grained macroscopic observables. By taking explicit account of their macroscopicality via a large deviation principle, we prove that, for a suitably designed apparatus I, the evo…
In the first paper of this series, I introduced a non-linear, Hamiltonian, generalization of Schroedinger's theory that blocks formation of macroscopic dispersion ("cats"). But that theory was entirely deterministic, and so the origin of random outcomes in experiments such as Stern-Gerlach or EPRB was left open. Here I propose that Schroedinger's wavefunction has a random component and demonstrate that such an improvised stochastic theory can violate Bell's inequality. Repeated measurements and the back-reaction on the microsystem are discussed in a toy example. Experiments that might falsify …
Schroedinger's famous thought experiment involves a (macroscopic) cat whose quantum state becomes entangled with that of a (microscopic) decaying nucleus. The creation of such micro-macro entanglement is currently being pursued in several fields, including atomic ensembles, superconducting circuits, electro-mechanical and opto-mechanical systems. For purely optical systems, there have been several proposals to create micro-macro entanglement by greatly amplifying one half of an initial microscopic entangled state of light, but experimental attempts have so far been inconclusive. Here we experi…
We demonstrate the possibility of controlling the border between the quantum and the classical world by performing nonselective measurements on quantum systems. We consider a quantum harmonic oscillator initially prepared in a Schroedinger cat state and interacting with its environment. We show that the environment induced decoherence transforming the cat state into a statistical mixture can be strongly inhibited by means of appropriate sequences of measurements.
We present a nonlinear stochastic Schroedinger equation for pure states describing non-Markovian diffusion of quantum trajectories. It provides an unravelling of the evolution of a quantum system coupled to a finite or infinite number of harmonic oscillators, without any approximation. Its power is illustrated by several examples, including measurement-like situations, dissipation, and quantum Brownian motion. In some examples, we treat the environment phenomenologically as an infinite reservoir with fluctuations of arbitrary correlation. In other examples the environment consists of a finite …
A non-Markovian stochastic Schroedinger equation for a quantum system coupled to an environment of harmonic oscillators is presented. Its solutions, when averaged over the noise, reproduce the standard reduced density operator without any approximation. We illustrate the power of this approach with several examples, including exponentially decaying bath correlations and extreme non-Markovian cases, where the `environment' consists of only a single oscillator. The latter case shows the decay and revival of a `Schroedinger cat' state. For strong coupling to a dissipative environment with memory,…
We discuss a connection (and a proper place in this framework) of the unforced and deterministically forced Burgers equation for local velocity fields of certain flows, with probabilistic solutions of the so-called Schrödinger interpolation problem. The latter allows to reconstruct the microscopic dynamics of the system from the available probability density data, or the input-output statistics in the phenomenological situations. An issue of deducing the most likely dynamics (and matter transport) scenario from the given initial and terminal probability density data, appropriate e.g. for study…
Entropic Dynamics (ED) is a framework that allows the formulation of dynamical theories as an application of entropic methods of inference. In the generic application of ED to derive the Schroedinger equation for N particles the dynamics is a non-dissipative diffusion in which the system follows a "Brownian" trajectory with fluctuations superposed on a smooth drift. We show that there is a family of ED models that differ at the "microscopic" or sub-quantum level in that one can enhance or suppress the fluctuations relative to the drift. Nevertheless, members of this family belong to the same u…
We investigate the possibility of interference effects induced by macroscopic quantum-mechanical superpositions of almost othogonal coherent states - a Schroedinger cats state - in a resonant microcavity. Despite the fact that a single atom, used as a probe of the cat state, on the average only change the mean number of photons by one unit, we show that this single atom can change the system drastically. Interference between the initial and almost orthogonal macroscopic quantum states of the radiation field can now take place. Dissipation under current experimental conditions is taken into acc…
We formulate the dynamics of the generic quantum system S_{c} comprising a microsystem S and a macroscopic measuring instrument I, whose pointer positions are represented by orthogonal subspaces of the Hilbert space of its pure states. These subspaces are simultaneous eigenspaces of a set of coarse grained intercommuting macroscopic observables and, most crucially, their dimensionalities are astronomically large, increasing exponentially with the number, N, of particles comprising I. We formulate conditions under which the conservative dynamics of S_{c} yields both a reduction of the wave pack…
The superposition principle is at the heart of quantum mechanics and at the root of many paradoxes arising when trying to extend its predictions to our everyday world. Schroedinger's cat is the prototype of such paradoxes and here, in contrast to many others, we choose to investigate it from the operational point of view. We experimentally demonstrate a universal strategy for producing an unambiguously distinguishable type of superposition, that of an arbitrary pure state and its orthogonal. It relies on only a limited amount of information about the input state to first generate its orthogona…
A quantum many-body model is presented with features similar to those of certain particle detectors. The energy spectrum contains a single metastable 'ready'-state and macroscopically-distinct 'pointer' states. Measurements do not pose paradoxes or require interventions outside the field theory formalism. Transitions into classical-like states can be triggered by a single particle with help of the thermal bath. Schroedinger cat states are associated with superpositions of inequivalent vacua, thus relating wavefunction collapse to the dynamics of symmetry breaking in phase transformations.
In recent years two fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics have attracted a great deal of interest, namely the investigation on the irreducible nonlocal properties of Nature implied by quantum entanglement and the physical realization of the 'Schroedinger Cat'. In the present work a macro - state consisting of about 3.5 x 10^4 photons in a quantum superposition and entangled with a far apart single - photon state is generated. Then, the non-separability of the overall micro-macro system is demonstrated and the corresponding Bell's inequalities are found to be violated. Precisely, an entangle…
We report the realization of an entangled quantum superposition of M=12 photons by a high gain, quantum-injected optical parametric amplification. The system is found so highly resilient against decoherence to exhibit directly accessible mesoscopic interference effects at normal temperature. By modern tomographic methods the non-separability and the quantum superposition are demonstrated for the overall mesoscopic output state of the dynamic ''closed system''. The device realizes the condition conceived by Erwin Schroedinger with his 1935 paradigmatic ''Cat'' apologue, a fundamental landmark i…
Experiments are described in which a single, harmonically bound, beryllium ion in a Paul trap is put into Fock, thermal, coherent, squeezed, and Schroedinger cat states. Experimental determinations of the density matrix and the Wigner function are described. A simple calculation of the decoherence of a superposition of coherent states due to an external electric field is given.
A single laser-cooled and trapped 9Be+ ion is used to investigate methods of coherent quantum-state synthesis and quantum logic. We create and characterize nonclassical states of motion including "Schroedinger-cat" states. A fundamental quantum logic gate is realized which uses two states of the quantized ion motion and two ion internal states as qubits. We explore some of the applications for, and problems in realizing, quantum computation based on multiple trapped ions.
Generalized cat states represent arbitrary superpositions of coherent states, which are of great importance in various quantum information processing protocols. Here we demonstrate a versatile approach to creating generalized itinerant cat states in the microwave domain, by reflecting coherent state photons from a microwave cavity containing a superconducting qubit. We show that, with a coherent control of the qubit state, a full control over the coherent state superposition can be realized. The prepared cat states are verified through quantum state tomography of the qubit state dependent refl…
